We examined the associations between teachers' knowledge of language and literacy constructs, perceived ability to teach early literacy skills, instructional practice, and students' early reading outcomes. The results showed that teacher knowledge predicted quality of instruction, but neither quality of instruction nor teacher knowledge were…

Learning to decode is critically important to the process of becoming literate. As such, a thorough understanding of decoding development is critical as well. Extant theories contribute to such an understanding but do not provide a complete description of decoding development; a different theory is needed to address limitations in the extant…

The author, a district chief academic officer, discusses his immersion into the research on the science reading and how it informed his views on how reading instruction needed to change in his district. He emphasizes the importance of adopting a cohesive curriculum aligned to the research on early reading, particularly in the areas of phonics and…

The Texas A&M University System recently developed six quality standards for educator preparation programs, the Texas A&M Quality Standards for Educator Preparation, that are to be implemented and met by all system schools. These standards are: quality of selection of teacher candidates; quality of content knowledge and teaching methods;…

Early reading intervention is crucial to ensure all students develop strong foundational literacy skills for academic and lifelong success. This Spotlight will help readers investigate the benefits of tutoring on early reading skills; identify how to build students' reading stamina; gain insights into knowledge-building curricula; review the…

In fall of 2019, the EdWeek Research Center set out to gain a clearer sense of nationwide teacher and teacher education perceptions and practices by sending out two surveys about topics related to early reading instruction, especially as it related to phonics. One survey was taken by 674 K-2 and elementary special education teachers who indicated…

For decades, the international education community has focused on schools as the primary vehicle of learning. However, learning assessments in dozens of developing nations show that repeated attempts to affect student learning in schools have largely failed. Because students with perfect attendance in low-resource settings spend less than 25…

This study examines the relations among the classroom literacy environment, children's interest and engagement in literacy activities, and children's early reading skills in a sample of 167 children aged 4 and 5 years enrolled in 31 Head Start classrooms. Researchers rated the classroom literacy environment. Teachers reported on children's…

The research explores the impact of interactive, multimedia literacy software (ABRA) on the reading skills of early elementary students in Kenya. Twelve grade two English teachers and their students from six schools were randomly divided in half: an experimental group (N = 180) where ABRA was part of their English Language instruction and a…